The hottest seat in the theatre
It was a case of life imitating art when it came to Julie Kelleher choosing her career. “I did a lot of dancing and drama classes when I was young but I didn’t realise how important it was to me until I got to my Leaving Cert.
I was attending classes with [director and playwright] Marian Wyatt and when it came to deciding about college, it struck me that the time in the week that I felt most occupied and least anxious was when I was at my class on Friday afternoon. I thought there was something really valuable in that, if I can feel completely occupied by this, that’s got to be the thing to do.”
Kelleher’s instincts didn’t let her down. She was accepted on to the nascent theatre studies course in UCC, a course of action which eventually led to her being appointed artistic director of Cork’s Everyman Theatre in 2014, at the relatively young age of 31.
There is no doubt this year has been a big one for Kelleher. The Everyman’s ambitious programme, including acclaimed productions of Beckett by Gare St Lazare Players, and a co-production of Autumn Royal by Kevin Barry have been big hits with audiences.
Carrigaline native Kelleher also scored a significant coup by securing the world premiere in June of one of the most talked about theatrical events of recent years, the stage version of Asking For It, Louise O’Neill’s novel about sexual assault and rape culture.
The stage adaptation in association with Landmark Productions was a huge success, with around 7,000 people seeing the play during its run. While Kelleher knew the show would be something special, it took time for her to appreciate what an impact the show would have.
“Certainly at the first preview, Anne [Clarke, of Landmark Productions] was fizzing… she was saying ‘it’s going to be really good’ and I was saying, ‘is it?’ She could see where it was headed.
"I was still a few days behind her because I was concerned with the technical stuff settling into place— that was the perfectionist in me wanting to see it fixed and finished. I think it is when you start to engage with people’s responses, that’s when you go, ‘right, this is more than I could have imagined’. I had no frame of reference for something so successful as that.”
The production was also a big learning experience for Kelleher and the Everyman in terms of the demographic of those who attended.
“We discovered that about 60% of the audience had never come to the Everyman before. That blows my mind. The box office manager was saying there were much younger people coming up to the box office, who it was clear weren’t au fait with the routines of going to see a show. It was amazing to encounter that.”
Kelleher has worked in all aspects of theatre since graduating with a master’s in theatre studies from UCC a decade ago. Right now, she is in director mode, helming the Everyman’s summer production, The Lonesome West by Martin McDonagh.
“It is a really big shift,” she says. “When I’m in producing mode, the first thing I do every morning is check the ticket sales and the last thing I do at night is check the audience response. You are trusting the artist to make the art happen. Here, I have to put the box office reports away, I can’t look at how it’s selling, there is no point.”
Kelleher did her master’s on McDonagh, someone whose black humour strikes a chord with audiences. However, Kelleher had her doubts when she revisited the play.
“It is funny on a superficial level but the things they do and say to each other is horrendous. I was thinking ‘can I, in one breadth of the summer, do a play that is about male violence against women [Asking For It] and then this other play where there is so much male violence, and isn’t it gas?’
"I was worried I had made a bad call but I have come around to the idea that it’s all part of the same continuum — that we’re looking at what happens when a masculinity that is not healthy really festers and where it goes.
"I laugh less easily at it now than I did when I was ten years younger but I guess that’s the nature of age and experience. But it really does make me laugh and the actors are having really great fun with it too.”
As well as being a break from the production side of things, The Lonesome West is also a departure for Kelleher in another way. “It’s a bit of a shift for me in the sense that all of the plays I have directed in the last three or four years have had a majority female cast and this is the first one that’s flipped. Gender balance works the other way as well,” she says.
Kelleher has been a constant advocate for gender equality in theatre and recently addressed the Abbey launch of a large-scale gender equality policy across Irish theatre.
However, she is equally concerned with other aspects of access, especially diversity in terms of class and geography. Promoting Cork as a centre of culture is one of her biggest motivations.
— Julie Kelleher (@seoid) June 20, 2018
“The capital doesn’t necessarily have to set the bar nor is it the only place where talented people go. For me, Cork is an amazingly cultured city. There is real talent here and part of this job is showcasing that.”
While 2018 has been a great year professionally for Kelleher, it will also mark another more personal milestone when she gets married to partner Mick, from Douglas, in September.
The pair met when she was a vocalist in a band for which he played drums. “I sang in a wedding band for years to earn a crust when the theatre wasn’t paying me any money at all. Mick still plays in the band — Ocean’s 6. We’ve seen a lot of weddings together,” she laughs.
For someone so obviously proud of her Cork heritage, it is fitting that the marriage celebrations will be focused in the heart of the city. “We’re getting married in St Peter’s on North Main St and we’ll walk across town to Jacob’s on the Mall for our dinner afterwards,” she says.
Given the obvious demands on her time, Kelleher has taken the organisational aspects in her stride.
“I produce events for a living so it’s not a big deal but the stuff still has to get done. I was flapping a bit because I didn’t have shoes but I bought those at the weekend. I got the dress with minimal fuss, in the second place I looked.”
The wedding is also a good excuse for a much-needed break for Kelleher, who will be taking three weeks off to honeymoon in California. Then it’s back to work and planning another season for the Everyman.
Kelleher says there are some ambitious plans in the pipeline. “When you have something as big as Asking For It, you go right, how do we follow that up? There is a big project that we are trying to get off the ground for next year but I can’t say too much about that now.”
The Lonesome West runs at the Everyman Theatre July 31 to August 25 everymancork.com
